Another "Louise"

Here's another vintage version of "Louise," this one by Bob Haring and His Orchestra.

 

Starr, by Patrick Conrad

This book - which features Louise Brooks on the cover - showed up on eBay recently. I haven't been able to find out anything about it. Though I think it may be fiction - perhaps a crime novel or mystery. Does anyone know anything? Help!

Amy Crehore Paints Louise Brooks

John Brownlee's blog at Wired.com features a painting by artist Amy Crehore based on a photograph of Louise Brooks. (I have blogged about Crehore and her interest in Brooks in the past.) Check out the blog and images here. 

Brownlee likes Crehore's art a great deal, while describing Louise Brooks as "my own silver and silent heart's desire." [ Here is a link to Crehore's original blog about the painting.]

June 26th - RadioLulu - Day of Silence

RadioLulu and Live365, along with the SaveNetRadio coalition and Internet radio stations throughout the U.S., will be participating in a Day of Silence on Tuesday, June 26th. This is a call to action around a proposed ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. See my earlier LJ post for details.

On June 26th, from 3 a.m. Pacific to midnight, all 10,000 Live365 stations - including RadioLulu - will go silent. Free listeners who tune into Live365.com stations will be redirected to a Day of Silence stream that offers an explanation, broadcaster testimonials and a call to action. VIP listeners will receive a Day of Silence PSA before being connected to the station's regular programming (if available).

"Pandora's Box" to screen in NYC

Pandora's Box (1929), starring the one and only Louise Brooks, will be shown in New York City on July 3rd. The screening will take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The film will be accompanied by Ben Model on the mighty Miditzer virtual theater organ. For more information, see www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kino07/pandora_sbox.html

Pandora’s Box
Series: 30 Years of Kino International [June 29 – July 12, 2007]
Director: G.W. Pabst,, Country: Germany, Release: 1929, Runtime: 100

G.W. Pabst’s immortal film version of the Wedekind play gave us one of the most enduring presences in cinema: Louise Brooks’ Lulu. She was a “new kind of femme fatale,” wrote J. Hoberman in The Village Voice, “generous, manipulative, heedless, blank, democratic in her affections, ambiguous in her sexuality.” As Brooks herself put it to Kenneth Tynan, “It was clever of Pabst to know even before he met me that I possessed the tramp essence of Lulu." She has inspired countless bob-haired imitators, but Brooks still reigns supreme. With Fritz Kortner and Franz Lederer.

"Louise," by Irving Kaufmann

There have been many versions of "Louise." Here is another.

Louise Brooks first film appearance?

Was Louise Brooks'  first film appearance in a minor 1923 film called Cause for Divorce ?

I came across this intriguiging May, 1924 clipping while going through Denishawn scrapbooks during my recent visit to New York City. Frankly, I had almost missed it, as it was one of hundreds of similar small articles of no particular interest. (I am still slowly going through the nearly 600 photocopies I made on that trip - the most material I have ever uncovered during one of my research expeditions.)

The article refers to a minor 1923 film directed by Hugh Dierker (perhaps the only one he made - though he did write the screenplay for another). The film was released by Hugh Dierker Productions, and distributed by the Selznick Distributing Corporation. According to the article, the manager of a New Brunswick, New Jersey theater claimed that members of the Denishawn Dance Company appear in the film. The company had recently performed in New Brunswick, and seemingly there was still a bit of a buzz about the dancers around town. Enough so, at least, for the manager of a movie theater to make a claim that "Ted Shawn and most of the girls will positively appear in the picture." How he would know they were in the picture, I can't say.

I haven't been able to find out much of anything about Cause for Divorce except that it was released in 1923. Brooks was a member of Denishawn in 1922 and 1923. However, the Denishawn Dancers are not credited in the IMDb entry on the film. Until some further proof emerges - like stills, production history of Cause for Divorce, or even the film itself - the possibility of Brooks' first film appearance will have to remain a mystery.

[ Does any reader of this blog know anything about Cause for Divorce ? ]

Beggars of Life to screen in Chicago

The Silent Film Society of Chicago will screen Beggars of Life on August 17th as part of its summer film festival. For more info and a list of other silent films to be shown this summer, see http://silentfilmchicago.com/

A possible new book

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle ran an article yesterday about Jack Garner, the film critic who is retiring. Jack is a nationally syndicated journalist, and a longtime fixture on the Rochester arts scene. Jack is also a friend to all those interested in Louise Brooks. Not only had Garner known the actress in Rochester (where he has worked since the early 1970's), he had also interviewed Brooks and contributed the forward to the recent book by Peter Cowie, Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever.

Garner will continue to contribute articles to the newspaper. And interestingly, the article mentions that "Garner has several book ideas that have been percolating, including one for children and one about former silent movie star Louise Brooks, who spent the latter part of her life in Rochester."

A possible new book!

Found

Found today on a street light poll in the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. This is not the first example of Louise Brooks' image used on a rock n roll handbill that I have come across.

Stolen Moments

The most recent issue of Stolen Moments - Donna Hill's always interesting silent film podcast - features an interview with Stephen Salmons, director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. In the interview, Salmons talks about Beggars of Life, the 1928 Louise Brooks film which will be screened at this year's festival. This podcast - as well as each of the earlier installments - are well worth a listen.

Colleen Moore website

Jeff Codori - silent film buff, researcher, and Colleen Moore fan - has launched a major new Colleen Moore website. The site can be found at http://www.colleenmoore.org/  Jeff has put a lot of work into the site, and it contains many pictures and lots of text. I would encourge everyone to check it out. And what's more, Jeff is working on a book on the actress. Perhaps you can help ?

A Spring Awakening - Pandora's Box connection

Everybody knows that Spring Awakening (the play which served as the source for the hit Broadway musical) and Pandora's Box (the play which served as source for the 1929 film starring Louise Brooks) were BOTH written by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind.

Well, the connection doesn't stop there. Recently, two member's of the Tony award winning Broadway play were interviewed prior to the screening of the Louise Brooks film. According to a May 29th article in the New York News,

Tonight the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville will be hosting a special Q&A with the Tony-nominated talent behind the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening."

Composer Duncan Sheik and book writer-lyricist Steven Sater will be interviewed by New York Times critic Janet Maslin in conjunction with a screening of the 1929 silent-film classic "Pandora's Box." 

I wasn't able attend this event at the Burns Film Center (which is located in the New York City area). Did any reader of this blog make it to this screening and onstage-talk?

p.s. The long-dead and somewhat neglected Frank Wedekind has certainly been getting more attention lately. This is due in large part to the success of Spring Awakening on Broadway. Interestingly, due out this fall is a new translation of Spring Awakening by acclaimed novelist Jonathan Franzen (author of The Corrections).

Rudolf Arnheim Dies

Rudolf Arnheim, a psychologist and scholar of art and ideas, has died. He was 102 years old. Arnheim was born in Berlin, and was known to film buffs for his classic study, Film as Art. According to Wikipedia, Arnheim's

preoccupation with film led to the publication in 1932 of his first book entitled Film als Kunst (Film as Art), in which he examined the various ways in which film images are (and should always aspire to be) different from literal encounters with reality. However, soon after this book was released, Adolph Hitler came to power, and because Arnheim was Jewish, the sale of his book was no longer allowed.

The book was published in English translation in 1957, and was widely used in American classrooms during the 1960's and 1970's. For those not familiar with the book, it should be noted that it contains three short passages concerning the 1929 Louise Brooks film, The Diary of a Lost Girl.

Amanda Howard

On Friday, I had a chance to meet in person longtime LBS member Amanda Howard. Amanda is a leading research contributor to the Louise Brooks Society, and in the past we have exchanged many emails and spoken on the phone a few times. (I have blogged about Amanda's contributions in the past.)

Amanda, who lives in Wichita, was in San Francisco on vacation. She stopped by the bookstore where I work and said hello. It was a great pleasure to finally meet you, Amanda !

Lulu in Brookline, Mass

Pandora's Box will be shown in Brookline, Massachusetts at the Coolidge Theater later this month. Click here for more info.

PANDORA'S BOX (1929) dir. G.W. Pabst, w/ Louise Brooks, 1h 40m
Sun, June 24 @ 11 am
newly restored 35mm print!
with musical accompaniment by Martin Marks
$9.50 general admission /$3.00 seniors, children, and Coolidge Members 

G.W. Pabst's retelling of the tragic life and death of Lulu, the ultimate vamp, played by iconic American actress Louise Brooks in a mesmerizing performance. Martin Marks returns to the Coolidge to perform his score for a gorgeous new 35mm print of of the film. To watch a clip of this film and other coming attractions, click here.

On the cover of CineAction

A full page photograph of Louise Brooks is on the back cover of the current issue of CineAction (issue number 71, 2007). This issue of this Toronto-based film periodical is devoted to sexuality in the cinema. (Catherine Denevue is on the front cover.) I didn't notice anything about Brooks among the articles, though the credit for the back cover image reads "Louise Brooks Centenery 1906-2006."